stomach ulcer

January 5, 2011

A stomach ulcer happens when a hole occurs in the stomach’s lining due to an excess of acid. Stomach acid is meant to break down and digest foods, and when there’s too much, it can be harmful to the delicate lining of the stomach. Stomach ulcers can be very painful, and severe ulcers can result in vomiting, blood in the stool, and sometimes death.

If you have one, you may be wondering how to treat a stomach ulcer. There are a number of effective methods that can help relieve your pain.

Some doctors might recommend prescription drugs and surgery if the ulcer is severe. However, this isn’t always necessary. Prescription drugs can be expensive, and may only treat the symptoms of the ulcer, without curing the problem. Surgery is extremely invasive and costly, and while in an emergency situation when a bleeding ulcer is involved can save lives, oftentimes it can be avoided.

Many people are reaching for a more natural and minimally invasive solution when it comes to treating a stomach ulcer. Here are a few options you can try to relieve your stomach ulcer.

– Your first step if you have an ulcer should be to stop smoking! In addition to the other detrimental effects of smoking, it has been shown to cause and worsen ulcers, including increasing the fatality rate from ulcers.

– Lower your stress levels. Stress induced ulcers can’t heal if you’re still stressed out! Reducing your stress level is also an excellent way to prevent ulcers in the future. Maintain a calm attitude, take deep breaths, count to 10, try a course on meditation, practice regular light exercise, whatever it takes. Everyone is different and responds to stress in various ways, so find the way that works best for you to keep your stress at a bare minimum.

– Avoid foods that cause heartburn. Everyone has their own food triggers, but some common ones are spicy foods, citrus fruits, alcohol, garlic, and onions are just a few. Heartburn can easily cause and exacerbate stomach ulcers, so it should be avoided at all costs.

– Eat healthy. Providing your body with the proper nutrition can help it to heal faster. Make sure you have a balanced diet rich in vitamins and nutrients, and focus on easily digestible foods, so as to avoid irritating the ulcer.

– Avoid pain killers. Various pain killers like Asprin, Ibuprofen, Aleve, Midol, Excedrin and others have been known to cause and worsen ulcers. Often, they will not help with pain from an ulcer and may even worsen it, so don’t take them if you suspect or have been diagnosed with an ulcer.

– Along those same lines, avoid vitamins that can be hard for your body to digest. Iron and calcium are known to cause heartburn, so stay away from them in their pure forms. Get those nutrients from your foods instead. Milk, and lean red meats (like beef, pork and lamb) are good sources of calcium and iron.

Stomach ulcers are not something to be messed around with, so always consult your physician if you suspect you may have one. For more natural remedies, and information on how to treat stomach ulcers, visit refluxremedy.com today!

December 28, 2010

If you have a gastric ulcer, you might be wondering, what can I eat with a stomach ulcer?

A stomach ulcer happens when the lining of the stomach becomes traumatized or injured in some way. This can be a result of a bacterial infection called H. pylori, stress, smoking, pain killers, or alcohol.

Eating and certain types of food can exacerbate a stomach ulcer and cause additional pain. Some people may find it helpful to watch what they eat if they have an ulcer.

Foods to eat

Certain foods are easier for your stomach to digest and may help make the eating process slightly less painful where an ulcer is involved. Focus on:

Whole grain, seedless breads

Low acid fruits and vegetables

Lean, unseasoned meats like pork, beef and poultry

Fish

Low fat dairy products in moderation

Foods to avoid

Other foods won’t necessarily cause a stomach ulcer, but they can certainly worsen it, or delay the healing process. Stay away from these types of foods:

Fatty breads like croissants

Fruits and vegetables that are high in acids, like tomatoes and all types of citrus including grapefruit, oranges and lemons

Heavily seasoned foods like beef, pork, poultry and fish

Whole milk and dairy products high in fat content

These are difficult to digest and cause the body to produce additional stomach acids to accommodate the digestion process, which can irritate an ulcer

Fried foods, like fast food

Fatty desserts like cake and ice cream

Things that might help

In addition to what to eat, there are methods you might practice to keep pain at bay when trying to let a stomach ulcer heal.

For example, eat smaller portions more frequently. This keeps your stomach from being bombarded by a huge amount of food, which creates pressure in the stomach and can result in a buildup of acid. This will aggravate your ulcer and cause more pain. Smaller amounts of food helps the stomach?s digestion processes go more smoothly, and can keep pain at bay.

Additionally, try to avoid pain killers. A stomach ulcer can be pretty painful, but taking a pain killer can majorly worsen the condition. Whether it’s an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) like Ibuprofen or Aleve, Aspirin, or a prescription pain medication, these drugs can inhibit the body’s production of protective enzymes in the stomach, making the lining terribly vulnerable to harmful acids. If you have an ulcer, seriously restrict your intake of pain killers in order to allow your body to heal.

Another way to help an ulcer heal is to reduce your stress levels. While stress hasn’t been proven to cause an ulcer, it is thought to worsen one, by subjecting the already irritated stomach lining to additional acids. If you feel like you’re getting too stressed out, take a walk, add regular exercise to your routine, take a few deep breaths, or enroll in a course on meditation. Practicing a few simple strategies now can help you have a healthier mind and body in the future.

Hopefully by now you understand better what you can eat with a stomach ulcer. If you’d like more information, head over to refluxremedy.com to find out what can cause a stomach ulcer and additional treatment options.

December 22, 2010

If you have a gastric ulcer, you may be searching for helpful foods to eat with a stomach ulcer. Often, a stomach ulcer can cause meal time to be terribly painful, and the thought of eating can be unappealing. However, eating the right foods in the right amounts can sometimes allow your body to heal and prevent pain that often results from eating.

What to eat

Certain foods are easier to digest than others, and when an ulcer is involved easy digestion is vital to helping it heal. Foods that are low in fat, whole grain breads, lean meats like pork or poultry, and fish are among the ideal things to eat when you’re trying to let an ulcer heal. The important thing to remember is to provide your body with balanced nutrition to give it the proper building blocks to heal. Vitamins and nutrients found naturally in foods are extremely beneficial to helping the body heal. Foods that are high in antioxidants like blueberries and cranberries can help the healing process along.

What not to eat

While a bland diet isn’t generally recommended for treatment of an ulcer, you may want to avoid foods that cause indigestion and heartburn. Things like citrus fruits and juices, tomatoes, and anything that is high in acid should be avoided. Spicy foods, onions and garlic are also known heartburn triggers and can be counterproductive to the healing process. Additionally certain drinks like anything containing caffeine and alcohol shouldn’t be consumed, as they stimulate acid production which can be harmful to particularly delicate stomach lining when there’s an ulcer involved.

Additionally, certain medications should be avoided if you have an ulcer, including pain killers. Pain killers have been known to cause ulcers. So when you’re trying to allow one to heal, resist the temptation to take any, as you may get another ulcer or worsen the one you have as a result. While ulcers can be particularly painful, pain killers will not help in this department. And, taking a pain killer for another problem like a headache or back ache while you have an ulcer can complicate things by worsening your ulcer. Regardless of whether they are prescription or over the counter, your intake of pain killers should be severely stemmed when you have an ulcer.

How much to eat

When it comes to healing an ulcer, the amount of food you take in can often be as important as what you take in. Eating large amounts of food at once can cause a pressure build up in your stomach, which results in pain and can seriously slow the healing process for your ulcer. So, eat smaller meals more often. That way you get the same amount of food, just stretched over a longer period of time. This keeps your stomach from being bombarded by a ton of food all at once, making it easier to manage and break down the smaller amounts. That keeps acids down to a minimum and creates a better healing environment for your stomach.

For more information on what foods to eat with a stomach ulcer, what to avoid, and natural ways to help relieve pain from an ulcer, visit refluxremedy.com today!

December 14, 2010

If you have recently been diagnosed with an ulcer, you may be searching for home remedies to help heal it. While there isn?t a sure fire way to cure it, home remedies for a stomach ulcer are often simple to execute and can help your body heal itself, which is often the best way to treat an ulcer.

The only case where home remedies for a stomach ulcer wouldn?t be appropriate as a first course of action is if the ulcer is caused by a bacterium called H. pylori. H. pylori is a fairly common corkscrew shaped bacteria, and is actually the number one cause of ulcers, not stress or fatty diets as was once commonly thought. So, if H. pylori is blamed for your ulcer your doctor will most likely prescribe a course of antibiotics to help kill the bacteria. However, these home remedies can be practiced in conjunction with antibiotics, to help the ulcer heal once the bacteria are gone.

First of all, monitor how much food you take in. Overwhelming your stomach with large meals can often aggravate an ulcer as the stomach tries desperately to break down such a huge quantity of food. Smaller, more frequent meals are the solution to this. It promotes healthy digestion, helps prevent heartburn and will help give your ulcer the space it needs to heal.

Second, watch what you eat. Fatty foods, extremely spicy foods, and foods that are known to cause heartburn or indigestion for you should all be avoided. Things like fast food, whole milk and creams, onions, garlic, caffeine and acidic fruits like citrus should be used in moderation when you?re trying to heal from an ulcer. Foods that should be targeted are whole grain breads, lean meats, fish, and foods that are high in antioxidants that will help the healing process ? like blueberries.

It?s important to focus on a healthy diet and outlook when your body has experienced a trauma, like an ulcer. Providing your body with proper nutrition will help it naturally heal. This means a balanced diet and maybe even regular, light exercise to get your blood pumping. Providing the area with a supply of oxygen rich blood will help speed the healing process.

Third, avoid pain killers like the plague. Over the counter and prescription pain killers are known to cause ulcers, so when you?re trying to heal from one, they can be counterproductive. If you experience joint pain, a headache, or back pain when you have an ulcer, reach for something other than pain killers to help get rid of it. Try a hot or cold compress, relax with a warm bath, get a massage, lie down in the dark, anything but putting a pain killer in your already sensitive stomach.

Fourth, stop smoking. Smoking is extremely detrimental to your health, and ulcers are quite frankly one of the minor side effects of the habit. Smoking also slows the healing process dramatically. Quitting will help your body heal the way it should, and prevent ulcers from recurring in the future.

Clearly simple lifestyle changes are some of the best home remedies for a stomach ulcer. For more tips and tricks to help deal with an ulcer, visit www.refluxremedy.com today!